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Neighbors on Tranquility Drive led by Joseph Calzone, pictured, are fighting a proposed commercial chicken coop and slaughterhouse in their neighborhood in Easton, Conn., on Friday April 2, 2021.

Neighbors on Tranquility Drive led by Joseph Calzone are fighting a proposed commercial chicken coop and slaughterhouse in their neighborhood in Easton, Conn., on Friday April 2, 2021.

Neighbors on Tranquility Drive led by Joseph Calzone, center, are fighting a proposed commercial chicken coop and slaughterhouse in their neighborhood in Easton, Conn., on Friday April 2, 2021. Posing with Calzone is Sam Ogrodowski, left, and John Allan, right.

EASTON — A judge has ruled in favor of residents opposed to a chicken slaughterhouse being built on Tranquility Drive.

In a ruling on June 22, Marshall K. Berger, Jr., a judge trial referee in Hartford Superior Court, found the town’s zoning rules did not permit a slaughterhouse to be constructed on that site.

“We are in agreement with (the decision) and pleased with it,” Charles Welch, a neighbor who participated in the fight against the slaughterhouse, said. “It was what we had said all along, which is that Easton zoning regulations do not permit a slaughterhouse.”

Last year, four Tranquility Drive residents sued Easton’s Zoning Board of Appeals for upholding a permit issued to Andrew Blum of Trumbull that would allow him to operate a chicken slaughterhouse on his Tranquility Drive property.

The lawsuit claimed the town’s zoning regulations did not allow a commercial poultry business in a residential zoning district. It also claimed the slaughtering, processing and packaging of chickens were not a permitted use of the land, and claimed that a commercial poultry business is not a permitted accessory use to a principal residential use, as well as that a slaughterhouse is not a permitted accessory structure to a residence.

Berger agreed with the stance that a slaughterhouse is not a permissible use for the property, saying, “In the present case, this court cannot infer that the slaughtering use is implicitly permitted because the zoning regulations specifically carve out an exception for processing and otherwise do not provide for the use.”

In the ruling, Berger referenced the court case Enfield V. Enfield Shade Tobacco, LLC. In that case, the town of Enfield sued Enfield Shade Tobacco to stop the company from taking off and landing its helicopter, which was used to spray pesticides, in a residential zone.

Shade argued the helicopter was farm equipment and that it didn’t need to get a special permit from the town to use it.

The court found in favor of the town, and that ruling was later upheld by the Connecticut Supreme Court when appealed by Shade.

In 2020, Easton’s zoning enforcement officer, Philip Doremus, issued a zoning permit for the property to build a two-bedroom modular house — and a 10-foot by 10-foot chicken slaughterhouse. Doremus did not respond to a request for comment and officials from the town said he has since retired.

The zoning permit for the modular home listed Sueide Salha as an owner and the permit for the slaughterhouse lists both Salha and Andrew Blum as owners. Salha and Blum could not be reached for comment.

Residents in the area fought the approval, taking the issue to the Zoning Board of Appeals and citing concerns about odor from the property, their safety and the possible impact on property values.

Welch could not file a lawsuit because he was not an abutting property owner, but he said he did financially support the legal team on the appeal. He said more than 80 residents of the immediate area signed a petition against the permit being issued.

“We were puzzled as to how that could have gotten approved,” he said, noting there are no slaughterhouses in Easton. “The permits had been granted by the zoning enforcement officer on his own authority.”

During hearings last year, Welch said, participants from the public were by-and-large opposed to the slaughterhouse.

When the ZBA denied the appeal, neighbors Solomon Ogrodowski, Daniel and Erin Travis and John and Donna Allen, filed a lawsuit. Welch said he and the other residents were opposed to the slaughterhouse, not the property being host to chickens.

“We are in agreement with the judge’s decision,” he said.